Friendship of Four Seasons
by i-am-ashamed-of-you
Summary: With Alfred's mother widowed and working a job that doesn't earn her too much, he decides to find a job of his own to take some weight off her shoulders. He ends up working alongside Kiku, who has some family problems of his own, and Alfred attempts to be his friend.
1. Chapter 1

He felt the cold greeting of the October morning prick his skin. His mother had apparently torn off his covers, in an attempt to wake him up. "Mo-om!", he grumbled, "C'mon five more minutes!" He blindly snatched the blanket from her hands, though his mother put up a struggle to grab them back, it was all pointless.

"Alfred, I ain't got time for this, you're gonna be late for school!", she said her voice rushing with urgency. She took him by the arm and pulled him to the hard, wood floor of his room.

"Ow!", said Alfred as he sat up, "Geez, mom, why'd you have to do that?". He rubbed his bruised crown, hoping that would make it better.

His mother threw him a stern look, "C'mon, get dressed it's your first day, at your new school you know." She walked out of the room, and started down the stairs. Alfred groaned, grabbed his covers and quickly went back to sleep, on the floor.

After awhile felt a huge rush of pure, wet cold all over him. He opened his eyes abruptly. His mother was leaning over him her golden locks hanging down by her face, and a now empty, bucket in her hands. The bucket was still dripping, the icy cold water from it's sides. He instantly sat up shivering, "Why the hell'd you do that?!"

"I thought I told you to get up!", she said obviously angry. She walked over towards the window, leaned on the window sill, and crossed her arms, "Now, ain't ya gonna do what I said?"

Alfred gave a heavy sigh, but he obeyed his mom's command. Walking over to his closet, he took his old clothes off, and tossed them on the floor, replacing them with newer ones. His mom stood silently by the window making sure he didn't drop down to the floor, and go back to sleep.

He then ran down the stairs, to the kitchen. His brother Mathew, sat at the table, quietly finishing his breakfast. He was already dressed, up, and ready for school. Alfred, narrowed his eyes a bit, but decided getting mad at his brother for being almost perfect, was only pointless. Then, he went back to being his normal, chipper self.

Just as Alfred sat down at the table, Mathew got up and put his dish in the sink. "Leaving already?", Alfred asked there was a bit of annoyance in his voice.

Mathew replied to him in his whisper like voice, "It's 7:43 already, Alfred! If we stay here any longer we're going to be late!" Alfred wanted to crush the table he was sitting down at. He got up off the chair, and quickly grabbed his book bag, hanging on a coat hanger.

He then jerked the door open, "Matt! Dude, come on, we have to go now!" Mathew rolled his eyes as he, in a more calm fashion, grabbed his bag and followed Alfred out the door.

Pretty soon, you could see the two teenagers running down Oak Road. The trees' leaves were painted various dark shades of orange, red, and brown. The sound of their feet, shouting, and panting practically lit up, the normally quiet street, with noise. They turned a corner, now heading onto Greenway Street. They crossed another road, passing onto more streets. It continued this way for about a mile or so. Then, they finally made it to Parkway Highschool.

* * *

When they entered the school, it was a mess of chaos. Much like every other school they had been too. Their mom had an unstable job and was always switching around occupations. Sometimes, they had to move because work couldn't be found here or there. Ever since their father's death, life hasn't been easy for them.

The two were born a year apart. Matthew was the younger of the two. They were often confused for twins, or each other. Most of the time they would laugh and shake it off, but after awhile it got quite annoying.

Suddenly, a girl walked up to them, she had chocolate brown hair, bright green eyes, and stood about half a foot shorter than Alfred. She held tight in her hands a couple of manila folders. She was wearing a light green, feminine dress, with a white-orange bandanna wrapped around the back of her head. It looked similar to what a cleaning lady would wear. "Hello, my name is Elizabeta Hedervary. I am student body vice-president, and I would like to welcome you to Parkway High." Her voice had a formal tone to it, glazed over with the slightest bit of spunk.

"Nice to meet ya!", Alfred said smiling and reaching out his hand for a friendly gesture. Elizabeta took it, and they both shook hands. "I'm Alfred and this is Matthew", he said jerking his head toward Matthew.

"How do you know who we are?" Matthew questioned confusion ringing in his voice, "And, why didn't the student body _president _come here to greet us?"

Elizabeta listened for a second, then smiled with a nod of understanding, "Oh yes, the principal told me about your arrival, and our student council president is not here today. Something about a cold or what not." She blanked out for a second, and her eyes snapped open a bit wider, it seemed as if she remembered something. "Oh god, I'm so stupid! I forgot to give you your schedules and school maps!" She then handed them the manila folders she was holding. She smiled, "If there's anything you need, feel free to ask me or any of the student council members!" with that final farewell, Elizabeta strode back the way she came.

Alfred and Matthew opened the folders Elizabeta had kindly given to them. Inside were, like Elizabeta had said. Their schedules and school maps, but they also included their locker numbers and combinations. "_Yay_", Alfred thought, "_**Wonderful**__ combination key that will get stuck, even though you __**swear**__ that the combination number is right_!"

Matthew took a second look at his schedule, then took out his map. He rushed down the hallway.

Alfred stuck around for a little bit, it was only the warning bell. He reached into his bag and quickly analyzed the paper. At the moment he only cared about first period, he'll worry about the rest later. First period, Homeroom/Math, Ms. Carrington, classroom 204. He repeated those words out loud. That's when his ears were once again greeted, by the lovely sound of the school bell. Second Warning.

He frantically ran up the stairs in the hallway, ignoring the obvious "No Running In The Hallways" signs. Who listened to those anyway? Matthew.

He almost had slipped by room 204, but luckily he didn't. The door was open, he entered it, at a more slower pace, so he would not get in trouble with the teacher. He found the first empty seat and sat down there. The clanging and obnoxious sound of the school bell, once again passed through the school. Final Warning, first period has begun.

Alfred finally got a chance to look around the classroom. There were all different people there, of whom he wondered what they were doing and why. The teacher, Ms. Carrignton, had grey hair tied into a loose bun. Random strands stuck out from the sides of her head making her look more stressed than she already did. Her face also sagged a bit making her look really old and tired.

The class was filled with the noises of idle conversation. You could pick up little bits and pieces from it, "Oh, Suzy was this", "Then, Jacob said that", "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!", "I know, know! All the time!" Various things like that. Alfred wondered what they all were saying, he wished there was just one group conversation. That way he could have an easier time listening in.

Without warning, a thundering slam sound vibrated through the class. Ms. Carrington had whammed her large and heavy book, on the desk. "Class! Quiet down!", she gave an exasperated sigh, "Morning announcements in two minutes!" The class continued being noisy. The teacher raised her arms up and dropped them down in defeat. Sitting down in the teacher's chair, she removed her glasses and rubbed her weary eyes.

Just as Ms. Carrington had said, morning announcements sure came. The person announcing them had that cheesy "infomercial guy" voice. The announcements held nothing important really to Alfred, maybe because his mind was too preoccupied with his new surroundings to listen.

Soon after the announcements, Ms. Carrington got up from her chair and faced the class. "Everybody, today we have a new student. I'd like you all to welcome him here, okay?" She turned her head towards Alfred, and gave him a "Come here" signal. Alfred understood her body language instantly.

He got up to the front of the class and introduced himself. "Hey! My name's Alfred F. Jones! I'd like to be all of your guys' friend!" his voice had an ecstatic rhythm to it, almost as if it was beaming. He flashed a thumbs up and a big smile, "By the way, I'm the hero!" The entire class let out bursts of laughter! He wasn't quite sure why, but he assumed it was because it was simply funny. So he laughed with them.

The teacher, who seemed to be rather grumpy this morning, wasn't in the mood for this. "Alfred," she said with the slightest hint of anger in her voice, "You can take your seat now." The class still was erupting with laughter. She rubbed at her temples, and gave the exasperated sigh again,"Class!" Everyone was still giggling and it was still loud as ever. "CLASS!" the teacher had finally raised her voice. It became suddenly silent.

That's when the door to the classroom opened, an Asian kid with, quite an unfashionable haircut as Alfred thought, entered the room. He had a very worried look on his face, and a rather sorry one at that, he turned towards Ms. Carrington, "Ma'am, I am very, very sorry for my tardiness! My only excuse is that I was foolish!" His voice was low and his eyes lacked a gleam in them, they looked rather sad.

Ms. Carrington furrowed her eyebrow into a sad fatigued expression, "Remember, Kiku, that if you are late again that will result into consequences, okay?" Kiku nodded his head silently. He then took a seat in the vacant spot by Alfred. Alfred quickly glanced at the boy, who glanced back; however, he quickly went back to thinking about whatever it was he was thinking about.


	2. Chapter 2

All during math class, Alfred didn't pay attention. He honestly tried, but with a subject so _boring _and _repetitive_ it was a tad bit challenging. The teacher wasn't making it any better her constant stressed out face and weary eyes, mixed with her loose strands of gray hair. This caused him to have a huge disliking for Ms. Carrington.

It reminded him way too much of his mother. It was the same exsausted look and dark eye circles. The way she rubbed her hand over her face in a sad attempt to eliminate stress, it was annoying and pitiful.

Time ticked on and on as Alfred looked impatiently at the clock in the classroom. It give a silent, yet audible tick-tock, tick-tock. He chewed on the end of his pencil, not understanding the math problem Ms. Carrington scribbled on the board. The whole entire classroom seemed to moan with a silent boredom.

Finally, the shriek of the school bell screamed into the classroom. Everybody got up from their seats, but the teacher had stopped them. "CLASS!" Her voice reached out to all corners of the room. "_I_ am the one to dismiss you, _not_ the bell!" She crossed her arms, "Now everybody sit down again." The students grudgingly obeyed. The teacher waited a few seconds, and gave a heavy sigh, "You may be dismissed." All of the students hurried out the door.

* * *

The next class was geography. Dammit, not this subject. Of the all the subjects Alfred sucked at, he had to say it was geography. Honestly, he didn't really care what the capital or population of Finland was. He didn't want to memorize all the countries that were in the former Soviet Union. (That was all sixth grader crap _anyway_) He remembered the time when the only geography he had to know or care about was America's.

In fact, for a while, up until first or second grade he thought that there was only three countries, the USA, Canada, and Mexico. It was because of that damn state map that his mom had lying around the house. He eventually picked it up when he was four or so, and stared at it for a while. He then asked his dad what it was, he told him that it was a map of America. Canada and Mexico bordered the US so a little bit of them were shown on the map.

He sat there, at his desk feeling himself doze off into a little land of daydreams. His classroom was just the most intresting place, comapared to whatever was being taught. Was it just him, or were there more boys than girls at this school.

Next to him, on his right sat boy with a rather round face, and large violet eyes. His short little mop of hair was a very light blond that looked almost white with a yellow tint pasted on very delicately. And, by the looks of it, he was about an inch or two shorter than Alfred.

On his left there was a girl with straw colored hair, and midnight-blue eyes. On her head a tiny little white bow was placed, and she sported a dark navy-blue dress that came down to her ankles.

_"Are there any other brunettes besides Elizabeta here? And, do any of the girls wear pants?"_ he mused to himself.

A world map was sloppily pinned to the back cabinet, with a stapler. It seemed the poor map had seen better days, the water stains and wrinkles on it clearly said so. On the right side of the room there were nice big windows that could let in a lot of sunshine, but that day was grey and overcast. Such a shame.

Finally the bell sounded it's loud song, and everyone left the classroom. The geography teacher didn't say anything to stop the students, unlike Ms. Carrington. His eyes beared those same dark under shadows and grey hair. His eyebrows kept to a straight line and weren't furrowed. Alfred heard him mutter a "I hate my job..." or something close to that.

Alfred was heading over to his locker, when he felt himself bump into somebody. A boy by the name of Kiku. "Ow! I am Sorry!", the black haired teen quickly apoligized, he said it like Alfred was going to hit him hard on the head if he didn't.

"No problem bro!" Alfred said flashing his big grin, that's when he thought of something. "Hey, dude?" he said addressing Kiku, who looked up at him.

"Yes?"

Alfred stared at Kiku for a while, forgetting completly what he was going to say, "Uh.. See you around!" He said turning to leave, leaving Kiku right there in the hallway, his face giving a look of confusion. The sound of the bell had poured itself into the school halls. Darn it all! Why did hallway breaks have to be so short?

* * *

Hooray! For it was Physical Education! For Alfred this was great because it required hardly any brains, just pure athletic ability, which he was so lucky to have. He wished this school did it every day, like in his old one, but this will suffice. The phys ed class was quite big. It's almost like they tossed every male in his grade together into one class.

When the class was exiting the locker rooms that's when he stumbled by Kiku. Kiku didn't look very happy, maybe he was one of the nerds, who hated P.E. "Yo, Kiku!" Kiku turned around, he looked rather displeased to see Alfred again. "'Sup', dude?" Alfred said walking closer to him, "You don't look very happy."

Kiku sighed a bit, "I really do not like physical education. It is very tiring and waste of time." He turned his head away slowly.

Alfred had a puzzled look glued onto his face, "What? Dude, it's not a waste of time." What was Kiku thinking!? Yeah, sure it was tiring, but a _waste of time_?!

Kiku let out a tired breath, "I think it is, quite a lot actually."

"Why? Isn't excercising important?" Alfred's mind jumbled around with confused thoughts. He kept repeating those same questions again over and over in his head. Who can possibly not like PE?

"Yes, I know. But, I don't consider it educational. I could be memorizing facts by now, or completing my essay. You know, school things." Kiku tried his best to explain his little dilenma. But, Alfred wouldn't have it. They kept debating on this as they came to the bleachers, where the coach was going to give them instructions.

"By the way, Alfred F. Jones", Alfred whispered to Kiku.

"Kiku Honda." he replied back in a similar fashion.

Alfred could hear a sharp whistle blow out echoing in the track , "Alright! Listen up, ladies!", a gruff voice boomed from about five feet away. His attitude sounded like that of a middle-school coach, not a high-school one. "You're all going to run the mile today!" A huge wave of low groans erupted from the students. "Don't give me any of that! What are you? A bunch of little girls!? NO!" Alfred admitted he liked the coach's spirit, but maybe he should be teaching a younger group.

The coach had a baseball cap and sunglasses on, even though it was a cloudy day and there was no need. Odd. He then blew his whistle, loud and clear so everyone could hear. "Everyone! Four laps round the track! NOW!" The flood of young male teenagers attacked the track with their feet. Some with enthusiasm, others with none at all. Kiku among them.

Alfred ran at a rather fast pace, unmatchable by a non-athlete. Yet, pretty soon Kiku was neck and neck with him. "_What!? How?"_Alfred thought. "Yo, Kiku! What the hell?!"

He looked at Alfred with an eyebrow raised, "What do you mean?"

"I thought you didn't like running! So how can you keep up with me?"

Kiku kept his signature blank espression on his heart shaped face. "Do you not realize?"

Alfred's bright blue eyes widened a little bit, "Huh? Realize what?"

"You are ahead a whole lap then I am." Kiku stated clearly, almost like Alfred was _stupid _or something.

"Oh", Alfred's voice was still cheerful and filled to the brim with idiot-like innocence. "Kay, dude!" He then sprinted ahead a bit, with a whole new breach of confidence. Kiku struggled a bit behind him, not really caring he was probably going to finish the mile last. _"Does he feel no shame for being so far behind?" _, Alfred wondered to himself. Alfred shook it off not caring to much about it. If he doesn't want to be fast, let's leave it alone.

The school day was finally over, the sky had not changed it's mind about the weather. Alfred tapped his foot on the ground outside his school waiting for Matthew. He didn't have an umbrella neither a rain jacket, and being soaked and drenched by the time you come home isn't very comfortable. He kept glancing at the dark-grey sky above him, hoping the droplets wouldn't come.

He then saw Elizabeta walk by dressed in a raincoat and her umbrella gripped tightly in her left hand. She too, looked rather uneasy about the weather. Maybe she didn't like rain? "Hey, Liz!" Elizabeta gave him a glance saying that she noticed him. "Liz, you've got a rain jacket and umbrella why do you look so worried about it?"

Elizabeta giggled a little bit and then said, as if to clarify a really big misunderstanding, "Oh! I don't want it to rain because I have my laundry hanging out! My parents aren't home, and my siblings are still at school so I'm the only one who could do it!"

Alfred grinned and mimicked Elizabeta's misunderstanding giggle, "I see now! Thanks for the info, Liz!" She mirrored his smile, put up her umbrella and left out the wired gate entrance.

He heard a small quiet voice come up from behind him, "Alfred?"

Alfred turned around to face the voice, "Yeah, Matt?"

"Should we go home now?"

"Sounds good." The two brothers hurried home as fast as they could.


	3. Chapter 3

The world seemed to go too fast for him. Kiku felt the heavy weight of the atmosphere push down him. His walking slowed and he let out a groan of discomfort. Home seemed like the best place in the world right now, especially his room. The urge to just lay down and the floor with a blanket and go to sleep forever plagued in and around him, it caused walking to seem more tiring and tiring. Kiku continued on though, even though the corner seemed so far away from where he was standing. Maybe it was okay to just drop down and the sidewalk and take a nap, but that wouldn't be worth it.

Soon after what seemed like nearly hour Kiku turned the corner, towards his home. It was a small little apartment built on top of his father's school supply store. It was a two story brick building, with a large glass window in the front of the lower shop story, displaying promotion posters and whatever was on sale that week. Above the window was a huge sturdy board sporting the name of the shop, sadly it just said a boring, "School Supplies". Long ivy vines hung down the old building, it gave it a "classy" appearance. The upper story also had a window, a smaller one this time, looking down on Blackwood Ave. It was placed, right in between a small bakery and a placid looking daycare. Those buildings were built very much like his own housing, the only thing that seemed different was the people who sold the products and what they were selling.

The sight of the shop cause Kiku's stomach to tension up inside and his legs will to move to vanish. He knew he had to work in there because they didn't have any employees, his sister's were too young, and his mother was in the hospital. He let out a sigh, that nap he was planning was going to have to wait.

He slowly opened the shop door, the bell that was hung in the corner of it gave a loud jingle. He slipped behind the counter and blaced his book bag on the floor. He sat at the chair, placed his chin on his hand, an stared out the window with a small hope that a customer wouldn't show up.

Much to his dismay, a young girl walked by, he knew who she was. Lillian Zwingli, a petite girl with a short mop of hair and little bow fastened into it. She was a regular customer along with Mei-Mei Wang because of their love of the cute little erasers that Kiku's dad had sitting in a box by the register.

Lillian peeked through the clear glass door, and she gave an excited smile. She enthusiastically opened the door, and the little bell sang its "Cashier, a customer! Sit up!" sound. Kiku straightened his sitting position as the little girl came skipping over to the counter.

"You don't mind if I look do you?", she asked Kiku in a very high and tiny voice, sprinkled over with light German accent.

Kiku tried to keep an emotionless face on, even though at the time a sigh would have felt better. "Yes, you can."

Lillian searched through the box that held the precious erasers. Some of them were shaped like animals, some like desserts or inanimate objects. She picked out one that was supposedly in the shape of a biscuit, that more resembled an ice cream sandwich. She gave a teeny smile and said merrily, "I'd like to take this one please!". Kiku quickly calculated the 7% tax in his head, "That will be 54 cents." She reached into the pocket of her pink and magenta dress and pulled out two quarters and nickel passing them to Kiku. He gave her the eraser and a penny back.

Lillian then lightheartedly jogged out of the store and most likely back home to her brother. That was probably the millionth time Kiku has sold one of those earasers. Girls in this town were crazy about them.

"You're going to be home late?", Kiku mumbled from the other line of the phone. He could hear his dad give an apologetic sigh.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Kiku, but I need to stay here with your mother for as long I can. You understand right?", Kiku's father hurriedly said.

Kiku wanted to only nod his head, but he had to speak so his father could hear. He held back a hot lump in his throat, he shouldn't be crying at his age. "Yes,_ Chichi-ue_, I understand." Kiku did understand, but what about them? What about Yuma and Kimiko? Won't they be lonely? He didn't want to ask these questions to his dad. His dad was probably having a hard time, and troubling him with stupid questions like that would only worry him more.

"Make sure your little sisters have something to eat, okay?", his father reminded Kiku.

"Yes." it was becoming bitterly painful to not cry. He can't! He was a man, he was seventeen years old, crying's for little girls.

"Go to bed at 8:30, okay?"

"Yes."

"No later! Also, make sure the shop is closed by 6!"

"Okay." Kiku felt his voice crack in the slightest, but he quickly recovered. "_I'm a wimp_", he thought to himself, "_a wimp_!"

"Goodbye, Kiku. Your mother sends her love." his father said.

"Goodbye, _Chichi-ue_." Kiku said as he hung up. He placed the phone back onto the wall hook, and hurried down the stairs back into the shop, shutting the door behind him. His little sister, Yuma, was sitting at the counter watching for customers. The eight year old was swinging her legs back and forth on the stool, and had a tight grip on their cat, Buu-Buu. Buu-Buu was attempting to catch her thin black hair and eat it as if it were some sort of bird. Yuma was completely barefoot and was wearing shorts despite the chilly weather. She immediately hopped off the stool when Kiku came into the shop.

"Nobody came, Kiku" she said in her _darling _little voice. She then walked past him with their fat cat barley falling out of her arms, and not caring about it at all.

Kiku placed himself in the counter seat, it was only ten minutes till closing. It was getting late, and it wasn't a very busy day. The inside of his mouth felt uncomfortable and hot, as he impatiently waited for the clock to reach 6. The store felt extremly stuffy, and he felt sticky sweat all over his forehead. He laid his head down on the counter and began to think about his mom. "_Is she okay? Is her heart going to be alright? Both metaphorically _and_ physically_?" he thought to himself.

He heard some footsteps come down from the stairs. "_Onii_?", a girl's voice said. Kiku looked up to see Kimiko standing at the bottom of the steps. Her hair was layered and a dark black, with many parts of it dyed a very light brown. Her glasses were pressed onto her face, and her lips were tiny. She was wearing a t-shirt with a pair of jeans that were much too big on her thirteen year old body.

"_Onii, _when's _Otou_ coming home?" she asked her voice dripping with worry. Her eyebrows were high on her head and slanted up, giving a sad puppy dog look.

"He's still at the hospital with _Okaa-san_", Kiku said in answer to Kimiko's question. He then added in a quieter voice, "He won't be home until very late."

"Oh", Kimiko said her voice had a slight disappointment but, her face didn't want to show it, "What's for dinner?"

Kiku turned to face her. What _were_ they going to have for dinner? "Uh...I am not sure, Kimi-_chan_. What do you want?"

Kimiko then looked to the side with her hand on her chin, "Um, I don't know. Maybe... _Kurokke_?" she suggested, with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Do we have the ingredients for it?" Kiku inquired.

Kimiko bit her bottom lip and looked up with her eyes, as if she was thinking. "I'll go check." She then hurried up the stairs, through the door, and into the apartment. She jogged a bit through the door entrance space, which was like a hallway that was cut in half. After entering into the living room she made a 90 degree turn into the kitchen.

Kimiko searched through the cabinets for potatoes and bread crumbs. She moved cans of this and that over, in and out of the cabinets. After, a lot of rushed searching she found a half-empty can of bread crumbs but, they had no potatoes. Giving as sigh of defeat, she halfheartedly put the cans and bags of sugar and flour away into their proper places.

She then walked back down to the store, more slowly this time. "Kiku, we don't have any potatoes."

Kiku's eyes stared down at the table, they seemed to stay there glued forever in that position. His face was still expression less with a straight mouth, and little to no eyebrow movement. He then looked toward Kimiko so suddenly it made her mentally jump. "I'm going to close up shop and go out to get the potatoes at the market store. Do you want to come?"

Kimiko's face lit up, "Sure! I'd love to!", she was about to sprint up the stairs when she then asked, "Yuma can come too, right?"

Kiku sighed a bit, "Well, she has to come anyway. We can not leave her all alone." Kimiko nodded and continued up the stairs.

**Author's Comments**: Before you complain to me about using Japanese words in an English story let me explain. My friend, who is indeed an Asian, talks to her big sister by addressing her with the Korean word for "Big Sister", same thing with her dad she calls him "_Appa_". (I have no clue how to spell it). I took a lot of the small elemnts in this story from parts of my own life, so that explains that.

I said, _Kurokke_ because I really don't know the English word for it, My Japanese teacher didn't know either, but I know what it is. It is mashed potatoes that are deep fried. That's all you need to know.


	4. Chapter 4

The way Matthew tapped his pencil while comprehending his homework was irritating. Alfred felt like taking the pencil from his hands and snapping it half, but decided it was best not to bother with him.

While Matthew concentrated, Alfred let his thoughts wander off. He looked around the very empty room, with nothing but a round table with some chairs, a coat hook with a few wet jackets, two worn out backpacks strewn on the old, rotting wood floor. It was almost a pitiful sight, though in Alfred's mind, it only looked this way because they were not quite done packing.

Alfred felt an irritable dryness in his mouth. His eyes constantly flashed around for something to do, he slumped down into the chair and played with his fingers. "Dude, it's so boring!" he complained to nobody in particular.

"If it's so boring, why not do your schoolwork or unpack some more?" Matthew suggested with a slight bit of snottiness in his voice.

Alfred moaned, "But, Matt, those things are really boring!" He then got up and fast-walked over to the fridge. "I'm hungry." he stated, changing the subject instantly. Matthew just shrugged his shoulders, and got back to his work.

The fridge was sadly deprived of anything you could make into a legitimate snack. A half empty bottle of mustard, a rotting head of lettuce, empty cartons of milk and juice, and some leftovers from who-knows-when in a bowl with aluminum foil wrapped over the top of it. The pantry was pretty empty, considering Alfred really couldn't make anything with a bunch of common kitchen spices.

Alfred then reached into his pocket, and pulled out a confused jumble of coins and dollars. He slowly counted what he had, $5.28. Possibly enough to go out and buy some food. He then ran towards the door, money in hand, "See you later, Matt!" the door slammed behind him, leaving a slightly confused Matthew behind.

Alfred wandered around town looking for some place to buy food. In the town there were a lot of family owned joints, with not a single chain store to be found. Trees grew everywhere and, despite it being a grey, drizzly day many little children swung around on tire swings and slid down the old metal slides. The sheer size and quaintness of the town made Alfred smile, he hoped his mom would see the same things and smile too.

He then compared the small amount of money in his pocket, and the possibly smaller amount his mother had and has earned. Could he possibly help her? How?

Finally, he arrived somewhere that looked like it sold food items. It was probably one of the larger buildings in the town with the boring words "Groceries" painted in big, red letters on the top of the building.

Alfred stepped inside the store. The first thing he noticed was how bright it was compared to the dismal outside. The white mock-tile floor had visible dirt specks scattered all around. Two parallel newspaper racks sat by the duoble door. The building was very spacious, not as big as your average Wal-Mart, in fact much much smaller. People were walking around with the shopping baskets and cart, picking out what they wanted from the short shelves that made up the aisles. Only two of the six checkouts had someone working them.

He then found his way around the store. He found a small loaf of bread, that looked like it was going to go stale in only a few days, and some cold cuts that didn't look as delicious as something from an actual deli.

The checkout line was as crowded as a toy store the week before Christmas. People were complaining about the length, telling their noisy kid to shut up, or just pissed that someone cut them in line. The tall, tan man at the checkout didn't seem to mind this. He also seemed to be very chatty, and slow with pricing and bagging items. The guy he was talking to seemed to be deeply invested in his pointless conversation with the checkout man.

Alfred desperately wanted something to do to pass time, so he turned toward the person behind him and decided to strike up a conversation. That's when it shocked him, "Kiku?"

Kiku, who seemed to be in a trance, was then snapped back into reality. His eyes got wide, "Alfred?"

Alfred then let out a loud laugh, it scared Kiku a bit. "Dude, dude!" Alfred said struggling between his gasps for breath, "Your face!" he giggled a bit more.

"What is so funny about it?" Kiku mumbled. A little girl at his side was silently giggling along with Alfred, at this remark.

Alfred wiped a tear from his eye, "Dude, don't say that", he continued to laugh arm around his chest. After he was quite done and his loud bursts quieted down, his face then got serious, "Dude, do know where I can find a job?"

Kiku's eyebrows raised a bit, this came out of nowhere, "Why do you ask?"

Alfred thought it was obvious why, but Kiku might just be slow, "It's because my mom's job, doesn't make enough money, and we need another source of income in-case she loses her job."

Kiku looked like he was really considering this, "Possibly, I can ask my father if he would like someone to work at his store..."

"Dude, really!?" Alfred said very pleased with Kiku's answer. Kiku nodded, "I will ask my father as soon as he gets home, and I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Sound good!" Alfred replied with a cheery tone in his voice. He then noticed the two little girls one at Kiku's elbow, one at his shoulder, "Who're they?"

"My sisters," Kiku replied like he was tired of that question.

"Dude, really I've always wanted a little sister!" he said smiling and looking down at Yuma, who returned his smile in a bit of a brattish way.

After what seemed like hours the line moved forward, he waited for the man at the checkout to slowly price his items. "Hey, new guy, you seem new here." he said almost to fast for Alfred to hear him, his voice had some sort of Latin language accent on it, Spanish maybe? "My name's Antonio Juan-Julio-Gomez-Michaelo-Diego-Fernandez-Jose-Pab lo-Ramirez-Maria-Hernandez-Carriedo, what's yours?

Alfred was taken slightly aback by the length of Antonio's name, but he still was proud of his own and it was easier to say, "Alfred F. Jones!"

"What's the 'F' for?" Antonio inquired.

Alfred shrugged, he honestly didn't know. Antonio didn't seem to mind and handed him his bag of cheap of food. Alfred gave an ear to ear grin, "Thanks, man!"

As he walked back home his mind buzzed around with happy thoughts, he had a potential job, some food for his empty stomach, and possibly some new friends. Hey, maybe living here wasn't as bad as Matthew thought it would be.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning was just as dismal, grey, and chilly as the day before. Kiku heaved himself out of bed a whole hour before dawn, when his alarm clock woke him. He stepped over Buu-Buu who was lazily napping by his bed.

He saw his father sleeping on the couch in the living room. He didn't even bother going to his own room. Kiku sighed and crept quietly to the kitchen.

After quickly cooking some rice, he began to rhythmically crack eggs into a metallic mixing bowl. He then searched the drawers for a whisk, finding a good small one he began to quickly stir the eggs around in the bowl, scrambling them together until his arm started to hurt. After dumping the bowl out into a hot frying pan, he waited a little bit to flip the omelet. After the omelet was good and done, he it cut into four pieces, placed some ham and soy sauce on them, and folded them in half. They looked like little yellowish wallets with ham sticking out from theri sides instead of money.

The sun had rose and Kiku quietly tiptoed past his father into his sisters' room. He shook Kimiko, "Kimi-_chan_, get up." Kimiko opened her eyes a little bit, and hesitantly raised herself up and out of bed. Kiku did the same with Yuma and got a very similar response.

After his sisters got ready for school, they ate breakfast with Kiku. It was very silent, it wasn't like those loud breakfast's that you'd see on TV with those big family's talking about this and that, instead it was just them silently eating their omelets and rice. Kiku didn't try to strike up a conversation and didn't want to, Kimiko never was talkative to begin with, and Yuma was just pissed that she was woken up by her brother.

Finally, the wall clock in the kitchen read 7:30, he looked at his sister and said, "We have to go to school now." They all got up, grabbed their book-bags hidden in the closet, and rushed downstairs.

"Kiku, you don't have to walk us to school you know." Kimiko stated like she was smarter than him. "We can take care of ourselves!" Kimiko argued further, "Anway, if you let us go by ourselves you won't have to be late for school."

Kimiko had a very good point. Kiku hated being late for school, this was just so tempting, but something in the pit of his stomach alerted him that this was wrong. His father told him to walk them to school every day, and to disobey him ,especially while he was so stressed, would just not be right. He stood there for a while, thinking of what he should do. Finally, he pushed away the temptation has far as he could and gave into his conscious. "I have to do what _Chichi-ue_ says, okay? I know you can take care of yourselves, but we must show _Chichi-ue _proper respect." His sisters nodded their heads regretfully, at Kiku's answer.

The middle school was on the other side of town, about a mile away from his high school. They walked the grueling walk there first, and then continued all the way to the elementary school which was about three blocks from the high school. By the time Kiku got his own school, nearly two and a half miles away from his house, he would have walked about 4 miles. He had to run after he dropped off Yuma, because it was already 8:30, and the school bell had rung. He was going to be late again, and end up with whatever consequences Ms. Carrington had for him.

"Kiku, I'm sorry, but rules are rules." Ms. Carrington said as she handed over the pink detention slip. He placed it into his math binder, not thinking too much about it. He then took a seat at his desk, he kept his face emotionless even thought the entire class was staring at him. He silently listened to the morning announcement and the taking of attatendance.

He felt like falling asleep, he got up very early and had to walk four miles, as he was doing for a while now. He tried to focus on the lesson, but felt the class's noise fade away and his vision blurred slightly. He thought of his bed and what it'd be like to snuggle underneath the warm blankets and forget about the world and his troubles. At this point, his desk looked like a comfortable pillow.

"Kiku!" his teacher snapped, "Pay attention, and stay awake." The easily-amused class began to giggle until the teacher stopped them, "Be quiet, you're acting like 4th graders!" Kiku tried his best to obey the teacher's command, but it seemed very impossible. The numbers on the board seemed even more jumbled and confused then they already were. How could you solve the equation when you don't even know what it is?

He began to involuntarily scribble a comic book character into the margins of his paper. It was relaxing and his hand naturally flowed across it. Creating the face of Hideko Nozaki, a _Mahou Shoujo_, with a bubbly personality and lots of spunk. Her hair was in an over-the-top do, with lots of ribbons and curls. Her eyes were humongous and detailed, her nose and lips her subtle and soft much like her face. The expression she wore was a sleepy one, in a cute way, not in the gross, dark shadows and drooling way.

He looked towards his neighbor and saw Alfred, then something in his head crashed. He forgot to ask his father about Alfred's job request. _"Kiku, you are so stupid!"_ he scolded inwardly at himself. How many people does he need to disapoint today?

After class, Alfred asked Kiku about working in his father's store, no surprises there. Kiku merely said that he forgot to ask his father and would try to ask him as soon as possible. Aflred's response shocked Kiku quite a bit, "Dude! That's totally okay! Just as soon as you get that info, tell me, kay?"

"Thank you, Alfred-_kun_. I will not disapoint you." Kiku promised him sincerely and politely.

"No problem!" Alfred casually replied back, and then he headed over to his next class.

It seems Kiku could breath again at Alfred's forgiveness, but did he really mean it? Kiku didn't know if Alfred was the type to hide pain. It was those types of people that confused him the most, yet for some reason he had to be one them.

He totally forgot he had detention this afternoon. How could he leave the store closed for a whole hour? It was his job and responsibility to open the store once he came home from school. What would his father say about all this? And the reason why he didn't open up the store is because of a _detention_? He had to decide who was the most important to obey, his teacher or his own father. The answer was clear, he was going to have to cut detention.

* * *

**Author's Comments: **In case you guys are wondering about Yuma and Kimiko, they have a friend who is willing to pick them up after school, but has no time in the morning. I couldn't fit that into my story without straying off topic.


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